Wine wars: are health warnings needed on alcohol?

A diplomatic spat has broken out over Ireland’s decision to introduce comprehensive new health warnings on alcoholic beverages.

The stark warnings will highlight the risks of cancer, liver disease and the risk of drinking while pregnant, as well as providing a product’s calorie content and the number of grams of alcohol. The changes will take effect in three years to allow businesses to prepare their products, and “will see new labelling on each bottle and can displayed on shop shelves and, in pubs, signage behind the bar”, said Politico.

Thirteen EU members, including France, Italy and Spain, have raised fierce objections to the European Commission, but the body declined to block the measure. More than 10 countries have lodged complaints with the World Trade Organization, but Ireland has said it would go ahead with the legislation.

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“I welcome that we are the first country in the world to take this step and introduce comprehensive health labelling of alcohol products,” said the Irish health minister Stephen Donnelly. “I look forward to other countries following our example.”

‘A direct attack’

Italy has “reacted furiously”, said The Times, with Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani describing it as an “absurd” decision. Italian wine producers said that moderate consumption of wine and beer should not be compared to spirits and smoking, and that the move has the potential to do serious damage to the country’s economy. Coldiretti, Italy’s biggest farmers’ association, described the decision as “terrifying” and a “direct attack” in The Guardian.

“We consider Ireland’s action incorrect because it is one thing to inform and invite moderation, which we believe is right; it is another thing to say that a product, no matter how much you take, is bad for you,” said Francesco Lollobrigida, the Italian agriculture minister.

The warnings will only apply to sales of products in Ireland, and not on exports of Irish whiskey, Guinness or other alcoholic beverages, according to the Financial Times. This has led to accusations that Ireland is breaching EU single-market rules.

Albiera Antinori, president of Marchesi Antinori, one of the country’s biggest winemakers, told the paper the move undermines the very idea of the European Community. “The issue has to be addressed. They need to find a solution. If not, the whole European idea – which begins in free trade – will be at an end,” said Antinori.

‘No safe amount’

But Ireland is undeterred. The country was the first nation to ban smoking in enclosed public places, including pubs, in 2004, said The Times, and sees itself as a world leader on public health.

Donnelly says the new law will reduce alcohol abuse in the country and alleviate the burden on the healthcare system. He told RTÉ Radio that one in 20 deaths in Ireland was linked to alcohol and even low levels of alcohol consumption were associated with cancer risks.

The World Health Organization classifies alcohol as a carcinogen and has said that there is "no safe amount" of alcohol consumption. “The science is very clear, alcohol causes cancer,” Florence Berteletti, secretary general of the European Alcohol Policy Alliance, told Sky News. “Two people are killed every minute by alcohol in our region [Europe].”